Governor of Niger state, Hon. Mohammed Umaru Bago has said his administration will involve Fulani youths as part of non-conventional security personnel to protect the forests for useful ventures.
The state Governor stated this shortly after a closed door meeting with the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor at the Defence Headquarters, in continuation of his visit to service chiefs for collaboration with the security apparatus to combat banditry and other forms of criminality in the state.
In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mal. Bologi Ibrahim, the governor said his government will take charge of clearing the forests for useful ventures before engaging the Fulani people to protect it.
"Yes, definitely, we will first take over the forests, clear them and make them useful, then the Fulani will now be given the responsibility to protect themselves and their assets because they are the occupants of the forest and jungles".
According to him "we are committed to collaborating with all the security agencies, conventional and non-conventional in making sure that people live peacefully".
Governor Umaru Bago explained that he had a fruitful discussion with the CDS on strategies to be evolved to address insecurity in the state.
He said he has a long standing relationship with the CDS, hence he will leverage on that for the benefit of the state.
"We've discussed with the CDS in order to establish strong architecture of collaboration among the armed forces and other security agencies to curb the menace of insecurity. It was very fruitful and the CDS has been a very good friend in the last ten years and I know that he can do better", he said.
Niger State Governor, Hon. Umar Mohammed Bago has said that his administration will carry out developmental projects that will stand the taste of time.
The Governor stated this when he received the report of the Niger State Development Forum, presented by its Chairman, Amb. Zubairu Dada at the Niger State Government Lodge, Abuja.
The Governor explained that the expectations of citizens are much and that his administration will do its best to meets the expectations.
In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Mal. Bologi Ibrahim, Nigerlites should not be fixated with the euphoria of the first 100 days in office but should be concerned with the quality of development that will be delivered to them in four years.
According to him, "We shouldn't be interested in the euphoria of the first 100 days. Our limit should not be in the next 100 days. We don't want to do window dressing, we want to do groundbreaking projects that will last for a long time ".
He appreciated the forum for its insights in coming up with such a developmental document and promised to support them as well as work with most of the recommendations.
He said, there are lots to achieve in the state and "we don't have a second state aside Niger, as such, we have to make it work".
The Governor charged them not to hesitate in bringing to his knowledge any opportunity that will help in transforming the state.
Governor Umar Bago who said he considers himself lucky to receive such a document gave them the conference room of the lodge as their temporary secretariat.
Earlier, the chairman of the Forum, Amb. Zubairu Dada, who's the immediate past minister of state, foreign affairs, explained that the Forum is an apolitical group of individuals from different fields of engagement, that came together with the sole aim of contributing their quota towards the development of the State despite their political differences.
"We decided to come together to rub minds as citizens of Niger state irrespective of our political leanings. Our main concern is Niger state, and how to contribute to the development of the state", he further explained.
He observed that the state was blessed with many human resources that if properly harnessed would engender rapid development and improve the quality of lives of Nigerlites.
The former minister of state highlighted six areas of interventions upon which their report centred; Agriculture and Rural Development, Extracting Industries, Financial and Revenue Generation, Human Capital Development, Infrastructure and Security.
He said the issues in the report were not exhaustive but expressed optimism that the document would be helpful to the administration.
"We don't pretend to have answers to all the issues, we just felt that we should make these humble suggestions and recommendations with the hope that you will find them useful to complement your blueprint", he said.
The Chairman said the Forum had met with the immediate past Governor of the state, Abubakar Sani Bello on their intentions to come up with such documents and he gave them the go-ahead but couldn't present the report before his exit.
